Capt. Joseph McDonald joined Marywood University’s Aviation Management program in 1999, when it started.
Over 25 years later, the former American Airlines pilot and director of the program will see it expand from Northeast Pennsylvania into the Philadelphia suburbs.
The Scranton-based program will spread its wings, collaborating with Fly Gateway Aviation Institute, where it will offer students to the south a chance to learn the aviation business and pursue a career in the field from an operation at Wings Field Airport, also known as the “Blue Bell Airport,” in the Philadelphia suburb of Blue Bell.
McDonald explained that the Aviation Management program offers two tracks.
Marywood University’s Aviation Management Program, which is set to expand out to the Philadelphia suburbs at “the Blue Bell Airport” in Blue Bell, Pa., boasts 78 students currently enrolled, 12 of whom are women. (Marywood University / Submitted)
Marywood University’s Aviation Management Program, which is set to expand out to the Philadelphia suburbs at “the Blue Bell Airport” in Blue Bell, Pa., offers students a chance to operate flight simulators and even fly aircraft in their first year as students. (Marywood University / Submitted)
Marywood University’s Aviation Management Program, which is set to expand out to the Philadelphia suburbs at “the Blue Bell Airport” in Blue Bell, Pa., is under the direction of Captain Joseph McDonald, a retired 38-year American Airlines pilot. (Marywood University / Submitted)
“We have the professional pilots’ side, and the airline Aviation Management track,” said McDonald, who noted students in the program graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. There are 78 students currently in the aviation program.
Sheryl Lynn Sochoka, the director of communications at Marywood, elaborated on the program.
“Through an all-in-one integrated program, students receive aviation-specific training with a strong business foundation, providing the leadership and management skills needed to succeed in today’s aviation industry,” she said in a news release. “Students can take all non-pilot related courses online to earn a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, while taking in-person flight courses and instruction at the Blue Bell Airport.”
McDonald said the program’s progress is moving along at Mach speed, and organizers are currently in the process of finalizing all the details of when the operation will take flight.
“We took our time to make sure we were doing it correctly,” McDonald said, indicating the program will launch in its new location “fairly soon.”
“We’re just waiting for FAA approval for satellite operation,” he said, with paperwork needed to satisfy certain requirements.
Fly Gateway Aviation Institute is under contract to provide aircraft and instructors, McDonald said. As part of their training, students have access to a fleet of modern aircraft, including the 2022-2024 Piper Archer 100i.
“We have five new airplanes. The students went down to Florida and flew them up for us fresh from the factory,” McDonald said. “They are brand new right out of the factory.”
McDonald estimated the 2025 models are valued at around $475,000 each, and said students also train with the 2022, 2023 and 2024 models.
The retired pilot, who worked with American Airlines for 38 years, said the aviation industry is a strong career choice.
“You’re never going to be complacent,” McDonald said. “You’re always studying. … It’s a great career and a majority of our students who go into it stay with it.”
He said there are “more facets than just working for the airlines,” adding that there is work in the private sector, at airports, for the FAA, in corporate aviation and more.
“There’s many avenues. … There’s different levels,” McDonald said. Marywood’s Aviation Management program sets students up with what is essentially a “Ph.D. equivalent of aviation,” the restricted ATP (airline transport pilot) program. He said that “regular ATP” has a requirement of age 23 with 1,500 hours of experience, but graduates of the Marywood Aviation Management ATP program can be 21 and log 1,250 hours of flight time.
“We have an FAA program in place where we can reduce it (requirements),” McDonald said. “They usually come out and become flight instructors, get nine months to a year, get their 1,250 hours and join a regional airline.”
Anthony Nestico, the assistant director of the Aviation Management program and a JetBlue first officer, said students get hands-on experience at Marywood.
“At Marywood University, we believe in learning by doing. Students in our program fly during their freshman year,” Nestico said. “Most pilot programs make them wait until their sophomore or junior year before they ever get to fly a real airplane. While we have airplane simulators to get them started, they are soon prepared and equipped to take flight in their first year.”
McDonald said the typical starting job in the field is around $60,000 to $80,000. One study indicates a first officer, also known as a co-pilot, will earn between $100,000 and $230,000 annually, with a Delta captain earning about $300,000 to $400,000 per year. Another report places the salary of regional airline first officers at $90 to $150 per hour, with an American Airlines subsidiary, Piedmont Airlines, paying first officers $96,000 per year.
McDonald, who teaches four courses at Marywood and said he’s there “just about every day now,” said the students who graduate from the university’s Aviation Management program are flying high.
“It’s very refreshing to hear they are working, they are out there in the industry,” he said. “We’re quite fortunate.”